Another carrier report, another win for Verizon… but the gap is closing

T-Mobile’s been jumping up and down claiming it’s the best network now, pointing to an OpenSignal report in some of its most recent bragging. This week, we have another report from RootMetrics, which claims, as it has claimed for a while now, that Verizon is still top dog nationally in each of their six categories. So, who’s right? Who’s wrong? Who’s best? Who’s worst?

Well, like a lot of statistics and reports, it comes down to the method for collecting the data.

OpenSignal is crowd-sourced, meaning that they pull data from users where they can get them, and since most of the crowd on OpenSignal is in cities (like most of the nation’s populace), T-Mobile gets a better rating and a better report because T-Mobile performs better in metro areas than rural areas. RootMetrics isn’t crowd-sourced, but a more calculated analysis that balances rural and metro demographics more accurately.

So, in cities, T-Mobile has a bit better chance of working well, and if you’re a city-dweller, that’s great news for you. If you’re out in the sticks, those OpenSignal numbers aren’t going to be as accurate to you as the RootMetrics score. RootMetrics still puts Verizon in first place and AT&T as a close second.